Nerds unite and get your dice on

John Knowles comes out of the nerd closet to shake his dice and flip some cards.

Listen, I’m as shocked as you are. I never thought this was me. If you took my young twenty something self and said, “see, this is you in the future”, I’d have stopped smoking whatever was in my hand and got a sensible job. I’m a gamer. There, I said it. I’m addicted to them, love them, never win them, couldn’t care less, just love ’em. From the sensual delight of punching out cardboard pieces to the mind numbing instruction manuals to the ‘why do I never win?’ despair: I love games.

Now let’s be clear here. I’m not talking your standard B&B sad-battered-games- among-the-jigsaws games; not the dust covered never played Scrabble and Monopoly, I’m talking hardcore, I’m talking mind flippin’ games of war, farming, Japanese walks, bamboo growing, alien assaults… I have manned a nuclear submarine! (I lost, but…). I’ve been to planets, star-systems, backstreet hideouts, forests with woodland creatures; hidden stolen goods from the Sheriff of Nottingham; fought: pixies, zombies, Samurai and Godzilla. I have taken sides in the Game of Thrones and died a hundred times. I have been a hero and a villain and I’ve lost more than I have won, but by God, I’d do it all again.

I am now addicted to searching for games , this is just a small sample of my list of wants: Scythe, Lotus, Photosynthesis, Hunt for the Ring, Honshu, Race for the Galaxy, The Lost Expedition, Race from the Aliens in Outer Space, Takenoko, The Fog of Love… I could go on: no seriously, I could. I feel like I have fallen into a beautiful, mad world, where every table-top is a field of dreams, where every dice roll, card flip and decision means life, death, discovery and laughter. Games are stunning adventures in graphic design; they are mind alteringly complex and yet, once you know them, are a delight.

So if like myself and a few other denizens of the deep and dark world of nerdy delights, you feel like sharing your passion, then join us at The Albion once a fortnight for board games of all manner and delight in being taken on a never ending journey over a glass of well served and well kept beer. Most nights are a BYO, with an occasional theme thrown in the mix, but there are always games to play and dice to be rolled.

The Albion: 7.30pm. Next one is Monday 16 April, then fortnightly thereafter.